I wanted to teach the punks The Lord's Prayer this year. I feel like I'm getting on this a little late, actually. But this is great timing for Weave Your Word in Me -- Part 1 from Kid Niche Christian Books. Weave Your Word in Me is a two part Bible and prayer curriculum for tweens, using a reworked rhythmic version of The Lord's Prayer entitled My Whole Self Before YOU (which also happens to be the name of a book and Bible study for younger children, also from Susan Case Bonner).
Weave Your Word in Me is compatible with six Bible versions; KJV, ESV, NKJV, NIV, NASB, NABRE. The answer pages in the back of the book provide the correct answers to each of these versions. Many are already the same, so there may only be two or three correct options. Weave Your Word in Me - Part 1 consists of 36 Biblical lessons for children in grades 4-6. Part 2 has 44 more lessons, for a total of 80 lessons. Each child will need a book of his or her own, as the pages are consumable, not reproducible.
The booklet arrives in shrink wrapped plastic with heavy paperboard to prevent folds and tears in shipment. The weighty paper is three-hole punched and ready to be put into your 1/2" binder. There's even a cover page for binders that have a pocket on the front.
Many of the pages are covered with colorful illustrations that enhance the lessons. Each lesson is clearly numbered and is one or two pages in length. Students look up between one and four verses in each lesson. They then answer questions based on the reading. Much of that is a fill-in-the-blank format. There also are some underlining, true or false, open ended "think" type questions, as well as some other question and answer types.
Most of it was very straight forward, but personally, I needed a bit more direction with the My Prayer sections. I like to know the "how" behind a lesson, not just the "what." I'm sure it's quite simple for most people, but Mal and I struggled with this part. We just discussed that part of the lessons and I led the prayers. I think it will become easier for him as we continue through the lessons. He has a tough time putting his thoughts into words and talking about what he is learning.
I planned originally to use the curriculum with Xavier, but after receiving it and looking it over, I decided to start working through it with Malachi. He is doing well looking up verses on his own now and these prayer lessons require quite a bit of that. It's fun to watch him explore the Bible more on his own and discover the answers in there by himself.
Author Susan Case Bonner includes her email throughout the website and in her book. She seems very open to receiving questions about the lessons. She has written Weave Your Word in Me to help guide children to a relationship with God, not to just talk to God in our prayers, but to build a foundation of real listening and understanding. An open and teachable heart is required to develop that relationship, and that is the main purpose of this curriculum.
This prayer curriculum is not just the booklet lessons. I also found a complimentary list of activities on the Kid Niche website. There is something for every lesson in Weave Your Word in Me - Part 1 and for much of Part 2. We enjoyed watching videos, coloring pages, and word puzzles through this activity section. I think this website definitely enhances the lessons for children who are more visual and hands on than the workbook crowd. As a child, I would have enjoyed the book on it's own very much. Well, my boys are not me and they definitely prefer the activity area. I did keep forgetting about the activities though and had to make myself a note to get in there and take a look at them. Also, this section can be used by the whole family.
When I first saw this curriculum come up on The Crew, I was unsure how I felt about The Lord's Prayer being rewritten for children. Well, I guess I am unsure about it still, as a replacement for learning The Lord's Prayer ("If it was good enough for Jesus..."), but it is a lovely prayer, though maybe a bit simplistic for upper elementary. The classes are a nice assortment of important lessons for tweens are included to help them understand the character of God and learn to understand and build that relationship. The page samples on the Kid Niche website are what really drew me in. I liked the content of the lessons, the variety, and the color illustrations.
Mal used his NIV Bible for teens and did a great job finding and reading the verses he was directed to look up. Some of his answers were incredibly short, but when we discussed the information he was more forthcoming than he was with writing. Through this curriculum, Mal is learning to pray more clearly for his relationships, with others and with God. I'm very thankful for that.
The lessons were fairly short, with the bulk of the time spent looking up the verses. He also is a slow writer. Though this curriculum would work well in a group setting; co-op or Sunday school, it probably wouldn't fill an hour for one lesson. The added activities on the website, though, would definitely add quality to the group lessons as well as to individual lessons at home.
Part 1 and Part 2 of Weave Your Word in Me are $20 each, but if you purchase the complete package, you save 25%, receiving all 80 lessons for $30.
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